The Charge of the High Rollers!

Half awake, Half asleep,

Half a roll onward,

All in the valley of Dice

Rode the thirty-two.

…………………………..

“Forward, the High Rollers!”

Was there a player dismayed?

Not though the opponent knew

Someone had blundered.

Theirs not to make reply,

Theirs not to reason why,

There but to roll the dice.

Into the valley of Dice

Rode the thirty-two.

………………………………..

Great to the right of them,

Good to the left of them,

Opponent right in front of them

(the checkers) slammed and thundered:

Blitzed at with shot after shot,

Boldly they threw and well,

Into the jaws of Defeat,

Into the mouth of the wishing well

Rode the thirty-two.

……………………………………..

Laying all their knowledge bare,

(seldom) Turning blue the air

Ever greying hair,

Building their prime while

Their opponent sat and wondered.

Plunged in the Camden smoke

Right through the prime they broke;

The opponent staggered back,

Reeled from this master stroke

Shattered and sundered,

Mere mortals would be broke, but not,

Not the thirty-two.

………………………………….

Misfortune to the right of them,

Favour fortune to the left of them,

No way back behind them

They rolled and often danced to a less merry tune;

Stormed at with shot and shell,

One by one our heroes fell.

They had fought so well

Came through the jaws of defeat,

Back from the depths of the wishing well,

All that was left of them,

Left of the thirty-two.

…………………………………………………….

When can the glory fade?

O the wild charge they made!

All the UKBGF wondered.

Honour the charge they made!

Honour the High Rollers,

Noble thirty-two!

Oh, and for those of you who persevered …. The worthy winner, and first official recipient of the “High Roller” tile, was… Catalin Bucur, defeating Peter Bennet in the Final. While Malcolm Robertson won the Consolation defeating Simon Barget.

Backgammonlondon would like to thank Raj for his help, the continued support of the UKBGF and, of course, all the brave “32” for their support and goodwill on the day. We look forward to seeing you all at the regular Monday evening events, or one of the two 11-point events in July for which further details will follow shortly. [Extremely shortly – Ed.]

The inaugural 11 Point Swiss in London is open for Registration !

At the Britannia Hampstead Hotel in Camden , on Sunday July 15th, Backgammonlondon are running the first ever 11 Point Swiss event for all levels of players to be held in London.

A scarce opportunity to play tournament length matches, against three different opponents, this will provide both useful experience and opportunity to hone your game.

The same format as the regular weekday events you likely attend throughout London, this is on a Sunday to provide time to play your three matches, and entry levels will be exactly the same – fixed at £10 , £20 or £50.

All matches will be UKBGF Rated, and we hope you will take up this rare opportunity – although one if well received will become a regular event.

For further information please visit Backgammonlondon.co.uk , or contact Andrew Selby.

All the Monthlies in one place

We’ve reorganised the Events Calendar on the UKBGF website, to include all the regular tournaments that we know about – London, Bristol, Manchester and Bradford. You can find the new listing here and if we’ve missed anything out, please do let us know. The UK Tour, BMAB and other major events are still in the usual place!